


Waterworks

by curtailed



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Amnesia, Awkward Sexual Situations, Espionage, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Infiltration, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-05-16 01:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19308142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curtailed/pseuds/curtailed
Summary: Karkat Vantas and a psychotic psionic are tasked with infiltrating a rogue Dersite facility.Shit happens.(DISCONTINUED: it's being merged with another story I'm working on, due to their uncanny similarities. If you're one of the few people who wanted to see where it was going, then do read the last chapter. So sorry for not being able to continue, but it's not really going where I want it to.)(2/24/2020: it's going to be finished up in one MASSIVE chunk! Had a change of heart and really didn't want to let it go like that.)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fanfic!
> 
> I'm pretty pumped to see where it'll go (I do have a game plan in mind).

It was Karkat that had found him first.

He was dreaming of snow. It was snow that slanted hard and cold, smothering trees and grasses and hives with shimmering crystals, and he dreamed that his head was pushing at the seams, stumbling across empty wastes, yellow blood pooling beneath his feet. Streaks of his own fluid patterned the steps behind him. The air dug freezing claws down his lungs, shredding them with pain, but he was only aware of blood dripping down his stomach and his entrails struggling to stay in the slit, and there was someone yelling for him, screaming his name —

“SOLLUX!”

No one else ever yelled that loud. Sollux Captor smiled lazily, leaning against a tree, ignoring the needles of pain drilling into his head. Red and blue sparks zapped against his temples. He was so sleepy; something dark and slumbering pulled at him, whispering encouragements in his ear, and he had to agree. He would just take a few moments to rest. He deserved it.

“Sollux, you fuck, what the actual hell happened to you?”

Why were his dreams featuring Karkat? It should have been Aradia, gently cuddling with him amongst the woods, or Feferi spilling shells into his hands. Hell, it should have been Eridan, the stupid seadweller pinning him against a rock and claiming his mouth as eagerly as a tidal wave. Sollux could almost blush from the memory if he wasn’t bleeding out against the tree, watching the sky sift into grey-red clouds swollen with snow.

Loud, incessant footsteps pounded near his side.

“Sollux, what the fuck —“

Sollux slowly turned to the newcomer. His eyes tried to focus, trying to make his thoughts cogent. A short, nubby-horned troll was bent over him, fingers clammily probing at his face.

“Don’t fall asleep, shitstain. Don’t you dare die on me —“

Die? Why would he die? The wound on his abdomen looked like it had been painted on his skin, a canvas of dripping yellow streaking down to his bulge. Blackness surged in his vision, spots flickering and popping in his periphery. Fuck, he was exhausted. His thinkpan felt like a hundred trolls had stamped and shitted on it simultaneously.

“Sollux. Look at me.”

Calluses fingers gripped the psionic’s jaw, forcing him to Karkat in wane, grey light. The smaller troll had his jaw locked in a grip of steel.

“Did you kill someone?”

Yes, he thought. I killed Aradia. But that was such a long time ago, back when the Empress was only rumors and his biggest concern was guarding his beehives. Sollux‘s eyes flickered, trying to adjust to Karkat’s face.

“Yeth,” he finally said.

“Don’t you dare fucking say Aradia.” Karkat gently slapped his cheek, jolting him back to consciousness. “Don’t think of her. Just look at me and tell me what happened.”

No one had followed him. Either they had given up the chase, or he had...

Phantom splashes of blood spread across his arms; hues of greens and browns and rusty reds and the occasional touch of blue.

“Helmthman,” he coughed out.

Karkat staggered back in bewilderment. “Helmsman? What does that —“ he shook his head wildly. “You — they — they found you out, shit, are you...?”

“They tried to drag me back.”

“Tried?”

“I killed them.” At Karkat’s expression he had to laugh, and his laughter was a series of insane, broken giggles, his chest tightening like a vice, and then he was crying and laughing at the same time and drawing warmth from tears dripping down his face. “They didn’t ecthpect me to...” his lungs contracted agonizingly. “Killed two ththrait up. Thmashed their headth on the wall.”

“Gog dammit, you shiteater fuckwad—“ Karkat pushed up Sollux’s shirt, his eyes widening at the sight of the wound. It looked like someone had dumped a pail of yellow onto his torso. “Don’t do this, Sol. Don’t die on me.”

“I don’t have to go back.” Sollux slumped his head against the tree, dizziness swirling in his head. He was so tired. “She won’t have me again.”

“She? The Empress?”

“The one and only.” The pain had began numbing. He was almost there. Hell, maybe he’d see Aradia again. What would he say to her? What would she ask him? She was so sweet, and so strong, and he had reduced her into ash. Dimly he was aware of Karkat’s hands inspecting the wound, assessing the damage, but nothing he did mattered anymore. It would be over soon.

“Sollux.”

He barely responded to his name. The sky had become a pleasant silver, like the fine edge of moonlight.

“Sollux,” Karkat repeated, chewing frantically on his lip, “what do you want me to tell Feferi?”

Feferi. Another amazing name for an amazing person.

“You want me to tell her and Eridan that you died without putting up a fight.”

“I did,” he mumbled.

“They don’t deserve that from me. How about you snap out of whatever shitty stupor you’re in and tell them yourself?”

It would feel like falling asleep.

Karkat’s head suddenly whipped around, his hands tightening on Sollux’s ribs. Footsteps were coming from a distance. An old, familiar thrum of fear plucked in the psionic’s stomach, and he could see blurry silhouettes following the trail of blood.

“Soldiers,” Karkat whispered in horror. “Fuck, I don’t have any weapons on me. Can you still move? We have to move. Come on, get up —“

“Let me die,” said Sollux.

“Why the fuck do you want that?” There was blood on Karkat’s lip; dreamily Sollux reached up to wipe it away. His hand explored the contours of Karkat’s mouth; slightly moistened, dried by the cold, cracked at the corners. It was a nice mouth. Whoever his quadrants were, they were lucky to have him. Almost unconsciously, his fingers traced over Karkat’s jaw, his cheeks, his eyelids, feeling soft, smooth skin like perfected fabric. Just touching him eased the pain.

Karkat’s eyes could pop from his sockets. “I don’t even know what you’re — we need to get out of here. I know a place.”

“No.” They would never make it in time, not while his guts were about to spill. “They’ll catch uth both. Don’t do thith, KK,” he pleaded, struggling to stay awake. “Don’t let me go back there.”

“I won’t if you come with me. I can’t carry you by myself —“

Rage flared in Sollux’s chest, momentarily drowning out his exhaustion. “You’re a mutant, you bulgethucker,” he hissed, digging his claws into Karkat’s arms. “They’ll kill you on thight. Leave me the fuck alone.”

Bubbles of bright red blood welled up on Karkat’s skin.

“I can’t,” his friend implored. “Aradia wouldn’t want that.”

A jolt of electricity shuddered through Sollux’s temples. “Well, she’s not here bitching about letting me die, tho go away.”

“What about Fef? What about Eridan? Fuck, they’ve been trying to find you for weeks! They’re going crazy!”

Why did it matter? His eyes closed. The footsteps were closer. Karkat, with his messy hair and stubby little horns and angry eyes, was still kneeling over him, trying to tug him back, and shit, he must have dug in harder than he meant to because streaks of blood were running down his wrists, down his fingers, dripping onto his wound.

“I’m sorry,” Karkat said softly. “I can’t let you die.”

Karkat’s blood...

Fury built up in the psionic’s thoughts, once more driving back the threshold, and already his psionics were grappling with the smaller troll, trying to push him away — Karkat gasped in pain as tendrils raced through him, but he clung onto Sollux, his red, red blood continuing to smear over the laceration. Already Sollux’s wound was knitting.

“Karkat, I fucking —“

Karkat leaned forward and pressed their mouths together.

Then he was jumping to his feet, even as the footsteps neared, his skin still smoldering from he electricity. “I’m sorry,” he was babbling, red tears slipping down his face, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I can’t — I promise I’ll find you. I promise, I fucking swear —“

and he was running, skimming across the snow,

and the footsteps had arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya has a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Operating by Unspoken Plan "Guarantee" here. I promise things will start clearing up and accelerating soon!

 The main room was empty, as usual, a hollow ache that reminded Karkat of a time when all twelve seats were full. Some of the husktops had gone dusty from neglect. The lights were dim, casting soft grey shadows along the walls, but he easily saw the red chalk drawings Terezi had scribbled across the surface.

"Karkat?"

He slumped down in his seat, his earpiece buzzing.

"Karkat? Come in."

"Kanaya?"

There was a faint rustling at the other end of the line. "Yes, it's me. I have information to share with you."

"Terezi and Vriska are still roaming, aren't they?" Sometimes he hated the two of them, especially when they were giggling and stalking the other trolls with slasher smiles, but right now he would've paid any amount of money to hear their deranged laughter. 

"Yes. But --"

"Fuck." He angled his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Okay, okay. Still no intel on Gamzee or Nitram."

"Not since their capture."

He might as well marked them for dead, then. "Nepeta?"

"She's with Equius right now. They're not giving away their location."

"Anyone at Prospit?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Fuck again. Karkat had to resist the urge to smash his skull open with one of Gamzee's juggling clubs. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Eridan's dead."

Before he knew it, Karkat had shot right out of the chair -- he sprawled right onto the floor, the cold ground slapping pain across his shoulders and ribs. He leaned against his desk, trying to process Kanaya's voice. "Ampora?  _Dead?"_

"Feferi and I found him washed up on the shore."

Shit, shit,  _shit._ Karkat squeezed his temples, thinking of Eridan and his haughty, asshole demeanor and his obnoxious shit-eating violet cloak. "What the fuck. What the actual fuck. How did it happen?"

"His ancestor killed him. Apparently Eridan was trying to negotiate the release of a prisoner."

And Eridan was actually stupid enough to walk up to Dualscar...holy shit, this reached new levels of sheer, brain-staggering idiocy carved from the seadweller's crevices. Karkat's eyes stung with a slight pressure. "I can't believe it."

"I knew he meant a lot to you, Karkat. I'm sorry."

"No, he didn't mean fucking anything to me -- I can't stand this, Kanaya, watching my fri -- my  _companions_ getting picked off like flies." Karkat clenched his fist, digging his nails into his palm. "This is gog _damn_ \-- who's next, huh? Me? You? Maybe I'll open the door one morning and find Terezi's head on a stick."

"Karkat."

"Fuck," he said softly. He couldn't stop staying the word. It was an ugly word, hanging insidious and sickening in the air, leaching out his anger and pain like a sponge. "I can't do this, Kanaya. I can't."

"We know the prisoner."

"Does it fucking matter? What's the prisoner going to do, lop off the Empress's head herself? Stain Ampora's shiny cloak? Shimmy Feferi right back to the throne? If he can't do that, he's as useless as Gamzee's shitty Faygo."

"Sollux is still alive," said Kanaya dispassionately, as if she was reading off a paper. "He's been transferred to Cronus Ampora's ship for rehabilitation, considering that the Condesce's vessel does not require a Helmsman at the moment. Eridan was trying to negotiate the release of his kismesis in return for giving up Feferi's location."

Karkat stared at the walls.

"What."

"Sollux. Captor. Your friend. My friend. He's alive."

But that was -- Karkat shook his head frantically, clawing his memories for a single, terrible day, the day he had left the psionic in the snow. He knew Captor had stayed alive. He had  _forced_ him to live, smearing blood across his wound, and then he had left him --

He couldn't think this. He dragged his thoughts onto another tangent, trying to put emotions to Kanaya's words. "Eridan -- he betrayed us?"

"No. He gave a false location. That's why Dualscar killed him."

Hearing the news twice made Karkat slam his fist against the desk, jostling his husktop. "Stupid, _stupid,_ fucking, idiot." His breaths were ragged. "This is messed up. This is beyond messed up. I thought Sollux was in some shitty cell in the Condesce's ship, not under  _Cronus_ fucking  _Ampora._ " It was a universal truth among the exiled trolls that no one was worse than the Empress, but she usually confined herself into the obscurity of her throne room, Dualscar was another matter. It was rumored he lived off the Condesce's prisoners, personally getting acquainted with them, and even honored some of them in privacy before throwing their bodies into the sea.

"Kanaya, did you think Eridan...?"

"We barely recognized the body." Kanaya's voice was barely above a murmur.

Karkat blinked back tears. A horrible, nauseating emotion twisted in his stomach, knotting his intestines together. He thought he would vomit right onto his clothes. "You're fucking telling me that Sollux is with Dualscar. Right now."

"Until the Condesce requires his services for her battleship. She had him transferred as punishment for escaping."

The day rocked back painful memories.  _He wanted me to let him die._ And Karkat was stupid, he was selfish, and now the psionic was in the Empress and Dualscar's hands. He had promised to save him. He had promised to save him and he left him there.

"Karkat? DId you say something?"

"What the fuck would I say? I didn't say anything." One freshly dead. Four missing. Two out of reach. One that had died long ago, one dethroned to nothing, two hiding out in what was left of the base. And one sequestered away in living hell, the same troll that he was too fucking cowardly to let go. Sollux had known what was coming -- he had  _begged_ Karkat -- and Karkat had done the most heinous thing in his life. He couldn't let go. He should have.

"I'm so fucking sorry," he whispered.

"It is absolutely not your fault -- "

"No, he told me to -- he told me to -- " Karkat bit back his sob. No, he couldn't even tell Kanaya what he had done. 

Focus on the positives instead. He breathed in a little, quietly testing the staleness of the air. Sollux was alive. He was alive and unreachable. That felt even worse. Karkat reached up and massaged at his horns, trying to force in some comfort back into his body -- he shuddered slightly at their sensitivity, trying to seal away his turmoil.

"Okay," he said, his voice amazingly calm, "he's alive. That's great. How the hell does it matter? There's two of us -- and no, I'm not counting Feferi's seatrod, apathetic ass -- and a whole  _fucking_ empire."

"So you would leave him to his devices?"

"I knew he was alive!" Karkat forced down the scream. "I mean, I -- we all did, Maryam. The Condesce isn't going to kill her future Helmsman!"

"The fact that he is not plugged in as a living battery and still capable of recovery -- "

"I think you're bullshitting yourself."

An awful silence hung at the other end.

"Kanaya?"

"Karkat," she said slowly, dragging out the syllables, "can you _shut up_ for a moment."

He promptly did.

"Terezi and Vriska have found a rogue Dersite base near the border."

It was like hearing Ampora's death again, but the emotion that poured in his heart was something -- lighter. Excited. Cautious. He fingered the earpiece again.

"A rogue...? Kanaya, there hasn't been any successful uprisings against the Condesce since -- "

"Since more than two hundred sweeps ago."

"That was on a different planet." Karkat's mouth was drier than it had any right to be. It was a whispered legend -- four aliens, whatever they were, had walked straight up to the Empress and challenged her to a duel. It had ended with their bodies sprayed across rocks and the Condesce retreating herself and her army from Earth, leaving nothing but ruins behind.

"We're on -- we're not on Earth or Alternia or anywhere. We don't have a chance."

"I am not trying to overthrow the Empress," said Kanaya. "You're right. We don't have any hope whatsoever."

"Glad we're on the same boat here."

"We can still rescue Captor."

Holy shit, Maryam was on a roll today. "And while we're at it, we can resurrect Aradia and make Tavros walk. It's not -- fucking -- happening." He wanted to  _hammer_ the idea into her head, force her to see reason. "Are you going to try to stage a prison break? Ask Dualscar really fucking nicely, 'Oh, hey, you just fucking killed your own descendant, but since  _we_ asked this time, can we have your personal playtoy back?'"

"We are not trying to convince Dualscar here."

Karkat was getting all sorts of surprises. "You're kidding. Like, even more than ever."

"I am not, actually."

"I think you are. Either that or you've been pawing off Gamzee's sopor stash, because it sounds like you're offering up your sweet, sweet plan to the  _Condesce."_

Kanaya laid out the plan.

-

It was straightforward enough on paper. When she was done -- and it was a plan of intricacy, of moving gears and parts as fragile as glass -- Karkat leaned back in his seat and blew out air through his nose. "Kanaya."

"Yes?"

"One problem here. One big, fucking problem."

"And that would be?"

"Who -- exactly -- is going to have big enough globes to -- " Karkat's voice caught in his throat. "-- to go up to her fucking throne and fucking dead fish face and ask her -- eye to eye -- the shit you just fed me? Which fucking troll would that be?"

Kanaya did not reply.

"Oh, fuck."

"Karkat -- "

"You  _cannot_ be serious. I mean, you are, but I'm praying to Tavros' severed wiggling legs that you're not."

"Terezi and Vriska cannot be compromised, and in any case, they are not within your range of communication. The Condesce will kill Feferi on sight. The others are missing or unable to be contacted. And I -- "

"No, no, just because I bitched about it does  _not_ mean you're throwing yourself under the bus."

Kanaya paused, her hesitation evident. "I'm not."

"Shit, you're serious. You're actually. Fucking. Serious."

"Karkat," Kanaya said slowly, enunciating each syllable carefully, "if you are unwilling to go along with the plan, no one here will force you to do it against your will."

"Not even Serket -- ?"

"Not even her."

"And if I mess up, Captor will be in bigger shit and my head will be on her trident. Or worse, right between Dualscar's legs."

"You won't mess up." Her voice was soft, but anyone with an ear could detect the layer of steel right under her tones. It wasn't always visible, and sometimes it trembled and quivered, but it would never go away while she lived. 

"And how the hell do you know that?"

"I promise I will reveal everything to you in due time. But on this matter, I simply need your consent in this mission." She didn't even need a dramatic pause; Karkat did it for her, sucking in a breath. "Are you in, or no?"

No, every instinct screamed. No. NO.  _No._

"Yeah," he said tiredly. "I owe it to him, anyway."

"Sollux?"

"Who the fuck else? Count me right in."

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan goes into motion.

Dignity, Sollux thought, was a strange word.

It was a word trolls often used in their dying breaths,                  in their eternal sermons and fires of rage, but at this moment it was as thin of a shield as the                      clothes on his back. Here, in the darkness of the room, it meant absolutely nothing.

He had discarded it a                   long time ago.

The first instinct had been to fight. The Orphaner had grabbed his hair, fingers digging in viciously into his scalp, and yellow drips of blood rolled down his face. When the clothes fell away Sollux had tried to bite down. The pain the elder Ampora gave him had been unfathomable.

The second time, he tried to run. He slinked along the                      hallways and rustling shadows, and then he realized he was trapped. He had no clue where to go. And when they found him, they dragged him back to his cell and ensured he didn't run again.

The third instinct had been to fight, again.

This time he used his psionics. The air hummed, a slow tremor creeping along the walls, and the first guard found himself sprawled on the floor, his thinkpan splattered across his clothes. It was a technique Sollux had perfected with the bugs and                      worms that had crawled into his cell. He sifted through their lifeforce to find where their essence poured from, and then he crushed                      down on it like a hammer.

The second guard wasn't as stupid. An ensuing                         fight had the guard ramming his knife into the psionic's shoulder.

Then he remembered                      something down his throat, as cold and unpleasant as                      

He curled in on himself, because if he couldn't stave them off he would seal off himself. Seal off his humiliation and honor and anything resembling emotion, leaving                    a shell behind. 

He felt                   empty.

There was no point in      fighting, and every other night Dualscar dragged him into his bedroom --

Sometimes the Empress visited. Once she held his hand, her fingers dwarfing his own, and she took him to visit his                 ancestor.

"I keep him as a trophy," she said, patting what was left of the              Psiioniic                hanging among the wires                and then she made Sollux touch                him.

Fuck, he couldn't keep these              memories, not when they made him puke and his heart throbbed                        he couldn't go on like this

He wanted              out

fuck

She had another trophy, and she and Dualscar                had taken Sollux along, too, near the seashore                       where he used to collect shells for Feferi. Holy shit, Feferi                was she alive? She couldn't be, because the Empress             was alive, and they could never coexist.

It was a              troll, his hands locked in a swirling              loop of chains, red blood stale across his clothes. In life his blood would be a bright, searing red, just like Karkat 

_Karkat_

Why did he hate that name                 

                      but an old wound on his stomach pulsed, and he remembered that Karkat               had promised

it was his fault, if he had only let him die

he            wouldn't be here, on his knees, clutching at Ampora's legs                  like a lifeline, listening to the Condesce's breathy        whispers

her promises that when he was old enough                   if she ever needed a Helmsman

no point wasting soiled goods

Sometimes he was so disgusted at himself that he wanted to reopen the wound, tear out every drop of Karkat's blood 

he was                Dualscar's favorite

 

now it was                  every night

he was so sore

Karkat had kissed him gently, unexpectedly, and Ampora never did any of the sort.

 

 

 

Think of              other trolls

like Aradia

which he fucking          killed

Feferi but she was dead

he --

Eridan?

his mind was like fragments cast out into the sea, and one night he hadn't been summoned                to Ampora's room, Eridan had been

why the fuck was he here

and the next day he didn't say anything about the splashes of violet blood            across Dualscar's clothes

He couldn't --

he shouldn't --

fill up these empty spaces

-

His head hurt, once, only a brief flash of psionics -- they had removed the majority of his power through a sedative.

When his mind reassembled, he felt better.

Anything they did to him meant nothing. 

He thought of his friends' faces, and he could think of them safely because it was like recalling what an object looked like.

Endearing.

Meaningless.

-

 

...

 

 

...

 

He found himself on the throne room.

When the Condesce occasionally remembered him, she summoned him and Dualscar to her seat -- it was no secret that Dualscar had pined for the Empress, and he had remained one of her most loyal devoters following her coronation. She even had a special, smaller throne just for him, situated behind her massive chair. He sat sullenly, like a sulking child, but made up for it by ordering Sollux to get down onto his hands and knees. He then placed his feet on the yellowblood's spine.

Sollux didn't complain.

It was an uncomfortable position, but no more disconcerting than he had previously experienced. For once, the pair of them were not focused on picking him apart. They conversed in low, cold voices, interspersed with clicking noises and frantic hand gestures, but Sollux could give less of a shit. He stared resolutely at the fuchsia titles. The whole fucking room was bedecked in fuchsia; swirls of it topping the walls and ceilings like bizarre icing. Everything else was deep purple.

"Kill him," Ampora said lazily, digging his heels farther into Sollux's back. The psionic did not react.

"Why do you think I brought this?" The Condesce gestured to the gleaming, golden trident laid across her lap. Sometimes she had experimentally poked Sollux with it, trying to determine which spot made him scream. "But I'll hear him out. Give him a chance to hope."

Sollux didn't bother looking up when the doors opened. A pair of olivebloods escorted in a hooded troll dressed in plain, black rags. He was short -- shorter than the guards by a head -- and quickly knelt before the Empress.

"Your Majesty. My lord." The words were punctual and dry and distantly familiar.

Sollux wondered if the troll was stupid enough to stand back up -- he wasn't, still respectfully posed on one knee. All of a sudden Sollux felt vulnerable; the troll hadn't looked at him, hadn't acknowledged his existence, but the psionic bolted his eyes to the floor and didn't dare to peek. He had never felt so nervous in front of the other petitioners before; even when the Empress -- or Dualscar -- killed them right on the steps. He didn't flinch or blink. But now his heart pounded quicker and blood swam dizzyingly into his head.

"Purpose," Dualscar asked flatly, shifting his feet. 

"I request the release of Sollux Captor for an infiltration endeavor at a rogue Dersite base."

Sollux thought his heart must have dropped to his stomach. Keeping his muscles relaxed and still, he sneaked a glance at the Empress, and then at the Orphaner -- both were deadly silent in their seats.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," the Condesce finally said. 

"Not at all, Your Majesty."

"Sollux Captor," snarled Ampora, pushing a toe into Sollux's ribs, "is  _my_ prisoner. You're trying to say that you're going to take this piece of lowblooded filth -- "

In one smooth, powerful movement, he had seized Sollux's neck and lifted him up until his feet were kicking in thin air. Sollux tried to breath, tried to gasp in air when cold grey fingers cut into his windpipe, suffocating him, choking him, and he was dimly aware that Ampora was still talking and making sounds and the petitioner hadn't moved at all --

" -- would you like to be his replacement? You could suffice for a week or so." Ampora's demeanor had changed; he lowered Sollux to the ground, drawing the psionic closer into his grasp. Slowly, deliberately, he slid his tongue along Sollux's neck, resting the tip below the ear. Sollux didn't bother to squirm or push him away. He stared at the petitioner blankly, idly wondering what fucking insanity it was that had propelled the troll to deprive Dualscar of his toy.  _Stupid little shit. Ampora really might follow through on the offer._

"Cronus," the Empress said, "open your mouth again to speak and I'll cut off your tongue."

The Orphaner stilled, ever so slightly, his hands tensing on Sollux's waist.

"You're asking to take awave my little Helmsman," said the Empress, her voice cold and smooth as running water. "My own, little Helmsman. It took so much effort to get my last one. And all for a pathetic bass." The motion of her wrist was casual, as if flicking away a strand of hair, and in the blink of an eye she had the trident pointed directly at the petitioner's face. "You're really begging for this, aren't you?"

-

"The base is headed by the Strilondes," Karkat said carefully, not missing a beat, repeating everything Kanaya said in his earpiece.

He had heard of the name, of course -- hell, anyone who flipped open a textbook had heard of the legendary name that had driven the Condesce off Earth, not that any of those books remained. The Condesce's first order of regime was to purge anything mentioning her defeat off the face of the planet. She couldn't have Earth, she couldn't have Alternia, but she could settle for Derse.

Derse was all hers. 

Her reaction was a slight tremble in the arm that held the trident, her fuchsia eyes widening minutely. Karkat risked a glance at the three golden prongs -- and all of a sudden, he almost broke right there, unraveling into thousands and thousands of pieces, and it was Kanaya still speaking into his earpiece that made him remain on his knee. She was talking, soothing, making reassuring noises -- fuck, he could do this, he wasn't dead yet and that was good, scratch that, that was great, he was still alive. He was alive and he could see Sollux out of the corner of his eye -- Sollux.  _Sollux._ It had been four sweeps since he had last seen him, and watching the Ampora bastard touch him, plop his feet on his back as if he was a common animal, lifting him up and strangling him -- no, no, he couldn't think this, not while Kanaya was there and somewhere in the distance Terezi and Vriska were there, their powers subtly bleeding into his voice, turning the tide.

"Is this a joke?" she said.

Shit. Maybe not.

Why the hell was he chosen? He could  _feel_ Vriska's power flex over his mind, reeling him, keeping him calm. She had gotten so powerful if she was able to extend this far. And it still might not be enough.

"Not at all, Your Majesty." Why did all of the royalty bone off stilted, completely fucking false courtesy? He would have gagged if he wanted a triple skewer through his torso.

"I krilled them, you shit."

"They are their descendants," Karkat said, dragging his gaze back to the floor. Kanaya murmured a note of approval. "I was able to procure their identities through insider information." Good, good, keep this up and he might be able to keep his legs. Vriska's power  _surged_ \-- and he heard his voice change, becoming low and reassuring, so unlike his own that he wanted to scream his thinkpan out. 

"Oh? And why should I believe you?"

Slowly Karkat reached inside his robes -- fucking courtesy of Kanaya's shitty fashion -- and pulled out his husktop, making his movements as relaxed and casual as possible. He pulled up the image Kanaya had sent him and slowly lifted it up, the pale light washing over the Condesce's face. "This was taken two weeks ago."

The picture, admittedly, was shitty quality -- grainy and blurry -- but it clearly showed four humans surrounding a table. All of them had strange-colored hair and pale skin that shone through the pixels. The Condesce was deathly still on her throne.

"I can dispose of him, if you desire," said Dualscar.

_Holy fuck, I'm reminded of why Eridan was such a grade-A douchebag._ The Empress didn't even bother to throw the Orphaner a glance -- her eyes never moved from the picture, slowly drinking in each possible detail.

"Is he lying, Cronus?"

Karkat's mind clicked all of the pieces together. Kanaya had given him as little information as possible, promising to clarify everything -- and he had trusted her. Thank gog he had trusted her. 

"No," Dualscar squeezed out reluctantly. His flat stare turned to Karkat's face. "Did you know of my ability?"

"Not until this moment." Holy shit, Kanaya, he had to remember to kiss her toes and not vandalize one of her trashy novels. Kanaya was the fucking best. He could stay alive, fuck yeah. "I would never dream of lying to you."

Also true.

"Coordinates," the Condesce said.

"Your Majes -- "

"They're the only thing keeping you alive, you shit. Give me the  _fucking_ coordinates."

Karkat tried not to swallow. "Their location moves, your Majesty. They have been the occasional target for drones -- but my source of information states that they have a powerful teleporter able to move the whole facility within moments."

"That won't matter if I blow it up."

Kanaya spoke to him again, reminding him of the script. "One of the Strilondes is a manipulator of Time. The reason your drones weren't able to seize the base is because he simply travels back in time to warn the others."

"Then I'll kill him."

In any other gogdamn scenario Karkat would have blown up in frustration. "Another Strilonde is a Seer, Your Majesty. She is able to foresee the most probable outcomes regarding their mortality."

The Condesce's fist shook with anger. 

"And what does my little psionic have to do with anything?"

Karkat steeled himself. "I propose that we use his abilities to bring down the base from the inside."

-

The troll was still talking. He was rambling now, confirming that the Seer couldn't foresee the futures about anyone inside                the base and with Sollux's abilities                    besides his psionics, he was                    proficient in computers -- no, he was the fucking best                          still alive, still talking. Sollux only knew one other troll that could go on so long without breathing, but             the troll had left him alive                 instead of letting                 him                   die, and he hated               everything about               Karkat. This troll reminded            him of Karkat, even if the latter was                      dead            some               where

Something                  was moving                  him;                          the Orphaner                                touched                        him; when did they                      return to             his bedroom?            Time to go away inside, per usual,                                     close off. This didn't                 really affect him anymore.                   

But tonight, it was                different. Usually, Dualscar was done with                him within an hour, tops, kicking him                    away like discarded paper. Tonight,            something must have set him on edge

"Hold up                 your hands."

He did so, and something               cold and painful wrapped around his wrists.         A set of chains linked to a wooden post.           Sometimes the Orphaner did that;               he tied him up and beat him senseless          and then used his body afterwards, but he               was kind enough to knock him out beforehand.

"I don't know what she's thinking," Ampora whispered, his face inches from the psionic's, "but you're  _mine._ You're not going to go anywhere."

Going? He wasn't leaving. He would never leave Dualscar. He was kind sometimes, even allowing him food -- that would be ungrateful if he left. And then there were other times --

_Don't think about them._

He could think about them later. Right now, all that mattered was staying still, staying pliant -- just as Ampora had taught                   him -- hell, he was a little sleepy, maybe he could lose consciousness before the whole ordeal              started.

"Trying to fucking fall asleep on me?"

Dualscar's fingers dug into his hair and  _yanked_ his head forward, nose-to-nose. The expression on the Orphaner's face was downright horrible; his violet eyes blown wide. 

_Eridan's eyes._

"I'm going to remember you," he hissed, their lips close enough that Sollux could feel the other one's mouth moving. Nausea rocked through his head. "Do you think you'll just skip out of here like a normal troll? Do you think I'll _let_ you?"

Sollux shook his head. It was a thought he had once nurtured, able to grasp fresh air and see the night sky again, but the thought had been unceremoniously              stamped out like a bug. It was a silly thought. It was stupid to waste attention on that hope                    he should be thinking of how to serve, how to make Ampora happy 

A searing, blazing burst of pain raced up his chest.

Dualscar had pushed up his shirt. His nails were long, yellowing, sharp as knives -- and they were fucking  _digging_ into Sollux's skin, nearly an inch deep, carving out -- through haze of pain Sollux tried to see what he was carving -- fuck, it was getting hard to breathe -- he was carving out the Ampora sign, a pair of sinusoid lines --

Eridan had been drawing these lines in the sand with one hand, the other hand flicking sand into Sollux's eyes. He remembered the feeling; hatred, of course, but fuzzy, warm hatred that could  _almost_ transcend into some strange form of camaraderie among...friends? Maybe. Maybe friends. For once they hadn't hate-fucked their brains out, rutting right on the shore; instead, they had thrown sand at each             other

No, Eridan was gone               and in his place was this                        cold, grey hand                       that finally withdrew, and Sollux could only watch yellow blood drip down to his stomach, over a faded pink scar                         the scar that Karkat had healed                       every instinct burned in him to scream, to cry out in pain, but he had long mastered the art of being            absolutely silent. Ampora didn't want to hear his complaints, so he didn't complain. Very           simple rules they operated here. The elder troll wanted something, Sollux would give. He wanted Sollux to shut up and the psionic did so. Refreshingly                straightforward --

"You're  _mine,"_ the Orphaner whispered, his voice low and possessive.

He was numb now, he thought, detached, like this was happening to someone else. He watched himself being laid open, as vulnerable as a wriggler, and Dualscar flayed him open and bared anything he could ever keep in secret out into the open. There was                  nothing he could hide. It was time                     to go away inside, again,                        maybe tomorrow things could be clarified, if he was lucky                  

Sollux shut his eyes and blotted out all of the sensations. It was better that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this wasn't weird to write at all. I don't even know what's "in character" for Dualscar because he literally doesn't have any, other than being an eviler Eridan.
> 
> The plot will be picking up soon -- some of the characters in the chapter were just awkward to write, but the next one should be treading back into familiar territory.


	4. Chapter 4

"Kanaya?"

"Yes?"

"Fuck you." Karkat took a moment to organize his words. "Also, thank you. For not -- uh -- telling me anything because her right-hand troll is a fucking living  _lie detector._ "

"You can thank Terezi for that."

"Let me guess: her weird future foreseeing bullshit that has sporadic efficiency."

"Precisely."

It was almost dusk; a dull, angry red pulsed at the horizon, cutting across the cell in swathes of burnt gold and dark violet. If he paid enough attention he could hear the waves swooping over coves and sandbars. The cell was not as shitty as he had dreaded -- moderately furnished, with a single bed and chair and a small window to gaze out at the sea. Plumes of white salt frothed against the shore.

He had heard screaming from outside of his cell, a rapid barrage of words flying back and forth, and at one point there had been a crunching sound. Instinctively he flinched at each outburst. Kanaya was here -- Kanaya was always here -- and it felt like everything was hanging by a thin, thin thread, poised to snap and plummet to an abyss below, but as long as he hung onto the strand he could make it out alive.

"Keep talking to me," he murmured, keeping his voice low. "I'm going to go shitcracking insane, just sitting here."

"Tell me about Sollux."

A strange pinch of emotions snapped in Karkat's chest. "The Empress will hand him over to me in -- fuck -- in an hour. I think. And then -- I don't know. I don't fucking know."

"How was he?"

"Fucked up," he mumbled. "Cronus -- is that his name, that's such a stupid name -- I couldn't watch him, not while the one and only Empress was literally pointing shit at my face, but he was...he was touching him all over and putting his feet on his back and it's been almost three sweeps since we lost him. It's fucking messed up, Maryam. I don't know what they did to him."

"It sounds terrible."

"Remember Eridan?" Kanaya had sent him a picture of the seadweller from his request. He had taken a moment to observe the mess of grey flesh and violet blood before realizing it had once been a living, breathing troll, his mind still trying to solve how limbs could be bent in such a position and how a body could hold so much blood. It was like someone had taken a sheet of metal and crumpled it into a ball. He had vomited and cried in his ablution block for a solid hour. 

Kanaya sighed a little. "He's alive, Karkat. Sometimes that's all that matters."

Karkat tried not to stare at the sun -- ever since Terezi's rather unfortunate predicament, he had been especially wary of bright lights -- and instead focused his gaze on a small crack in the wall. "Can we talk about something else? Are you at the base, too?"

"No. I have been accosted by several drones around my location."

"Shit, are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I just -- " Karkat buried his face in his hands, breathing in his scent of metal and sweat. "I can't lose anyone anymore. I think I'll crack, Kanaya. I'll just fucking crumble if I hear you're hurt."

"I will be fine."

"I know, I'm just -- I'm so scared sometimes." He hated it when his voice dropped to this pathetic whisper, as if he was almost afraid to reveal it to himself. "You should have been the leader from the start. Maybe all of this could've been avoided."

"Karkat..."

"Yeah, fuck this. Obligatory subject change coming right up again." Karkat decided to slump across the bed, which turned out to be a horrible mistake when his back slammed into solid metal. "What the fuck. There's not even a recuperacoon in this crap-splattered hellhole."

"They will release you soon, yes?"

"Probably saying their precious goodbyes to their favorite boytoy." Just thinking of Sollux in that fuckface's hands made Karkat's stomach twist. Killing wasn't really on his list -- it was uncomfortable, dealing with a severing of thousands and thousands of potential possibilities -- but he wouldn't mind too much if Ampora's head suddenly snapped off. Preferably by his own sickles. "Are you going to tell me all the plans for this infiltration shit?"

Pause.

"Kanaya, you there?"

"Yes, I was conferring with -- " There was another rustling. "You are...not in the clear yet, Karkat. Terezi's foresight, at this moment, is murky."

"That means I'm dead, huh."

"No, it means that anything that will happen is now unpredicted. Much like the majority of life."

"So you're saying that you have no clue if the Condesce suddenly has a change of heart, realize we've been playing her like -- some, uh, shitty metaphor -- and then make me shish-kabob in front of her throne."

"Vriska's ability is still in effect."

"How the fuck is it still ongoing?" Karkat pressed a hand over his eyes, squeezing out the light. "She's a powerful, insane bitch, but she can't even control Tavros for over a couple of hours. What's the deal here? There's no way she can control a highblood for that long."

More voices.

"One of my -- ah,  _contacts_ \-- tells me that her ability is amplified because of your blood."

Karkat had to repress the urge to curl in on himself.  _Blood._ His bright-red blood, an anomaly, a blight across the hemospectrum. He knew he could use his blood to heal wounds -- not his own, unfortunately -- but he had healed up his lusus' cuts and one time when Kanaya had collapsed and when Sollux was bleeding out in the snow --

Fuuuuuuck, not this train of thought again.

"That's bullshit," he finally said. "No fucking way."

"You've told me before that your blood was capable of healing your lusus."

"Look, he was a big fucking crab monster. He probably gets off on blood even more than you do."

"And the time you fed me blood and I became a rainbow drinker?"

"That is still some freaky shit that I don't believe happened. What the fuck was I supposed to hydrate you with, my urine?"

"Please. No. But everytime you beat yourself up, thinking about your supposed mistakes -- please remember that you saved me."

"By fucking accident."

"No, by you. Give yourself more credit."

"I fucking wish." The minutes ticked by agonizingly, mirroring his heartbeat. "Alright. What else should I know that won't make me end up as Ampora's personal lapdog? How long will Vriska's effect last?"

Kanaya muttered out a figure.

"Now you're actually kidding me. That's like -- that's like Mindfang-level of power. Half a fucking  _sweep?_ "

"It's complicated, Karkat. Your blood strengthens the effect -- but the main constituent of mental persuasion is the other's willingness. And in any case, the Condesce truly wants to see the base burnt to nothing. She revels in war and carnage, but she treasures an empire completely under her control even more."

"Wow, the Strilondes were that bad?"

"They rose up against her. They dared to disrupt her power. To my understanding, she was going to -- "

"What?"

Another pause, loaded with a heavy emotion. "My apologies. I can't inform you of the information yet, but I assure you that Vriska is not alone in this endeavor. There are a lot of us turning the tide here."

"Okay. Sure." The hour was almost up; he could feel the seconds slipping away. "Enough personal shitwash, I guess. If I can walk out of here alive, with Captor not dying on me the second my foot touches the holy fantasizable outside air, then...we're going to do a rendezvous? Or is that too risky?"

"I will tell you the details once you are secure."

"Gotcha."

Footsteps pounded outside his door. Hastily, Karkat pulled his hood up.

"Good luck, Karkat."

-

She went quiet as the door slammed open, rebounding off the wall. Kanaya must have informed the others of the events, because once again he felt Vriska's power seep into him, straightening his spine, imbuing him with enough courage to meet Cronus Ampora in the eye.

"Petitioner," the troll snarled, "the Condesce requests your presence."

"Yes, my lord." Gog, he was going to wash his mouth with his own shit after this.

The Orphaner was holding something in his hand -- with a twist of nausea, Karkat recognized it as a chain. The links followed a cold trail to a certain troll standing just right outside of the door, his head bowed by the weight of the collar the chains connected to. The troll's eyes flickered up briefly, blankly, and Karkat could recognize the red and blue eyes anywhere.

_Sollux._

He didn't dare show a single emotion. Instead, he followed after Dualscar, who tugged at Sollux harshly, sometimes making him stumble. The hallway felt too narrow. It was constricting him, sealing him off, until all he could focus on was Sollux's ragged breathing and the way his bare feet dragged across the floor, bloodied and bruised --

He had to thank Vriska later, else he was going to  _kill_ Ampora. Even if he didn't stand a fucking chance.

Sollux. Holy shit.

Karkat kept away from him. If he wandered too close, he was afraid of what he would do -- embrace him, draw in his bony frame into his harms, cry in his hair, tell him everything was okay, him and his friends were getting the psionic out of here -- he didn't have to look at these walls again, be yanked everywhere on a chain -- and his shirt was stained with yellowing blood around the chest. Captor didn't make a sound; he never glanced at Karkat once, instead preferring to stare at Ampora's back. 

Gog, he looked beyond terrible.

_Stop staring. He'll notice, and then he'll realize who you are and then you'll be digging a deeper fucking hole. Get a hold of yourself._

He could deal with this later. He could open up all of the pressure boiling inside him, a stew of anger and relief and dread -- dread at what he would find under Sollux's clothes, if the blood was any indicator.

The throne room was almost a relief. A flush of cold air calmed down his heart, smoothing across his skin. The Condesce, per usual, sat relaxedly in her chair, while Ampora sat in the smaller chair behind hers. Sollux slinked away into the shadow of Dualscar's seat, the only part of him visible being his horns. Karkat quickly kneeled before the Empress.

"Cronus, give the little yellowblood to him."

Ampora shot Karkat a look that  _crawled_ with cold, disgusted hatred, and then unfastened the collar around Sollux's neck. He grabbed the psionic by the hair and tugged his ear toward his mouth, whispering something. Sollux's face showed no reaction.

Then he shoved Captor toward Karkat. Sollux nearly tripped down the dais steps but caught himself at the last second. Silently, he went to stand by Karkat's side.

Tremors of nervousness inched up Karkat's chest, making it hard to breathe. He was hyperaware of Sollux next to him, breathing quietly, not even fazed by the change of events. Reluctantly, Karkat faced the Condesce.

"Half a sweep," she said.

"Your Majesty?"

"Half a sweep to crack open that place. I expect -- " the Empress leaned forward in her seat, her trident tapping against the ground, a thin smile curling up her mouth. "I expect it to be  _ready_ for me. You know what I mean by ready. If it is, I'll let you and Cronus' little pet go."

The Orphaner shifted in his seat, but said nothing.

"And if it's knot...I can't find the Strilondes, maybe, but I know I can find you. I'll give you and all of your fronds to Cronus."

At  _that,_ Ampora had a sharklike grin.

"Does that sea-m fair?"

More than fucking fair. Karkat thought he was going to piss his pants. "Absolutely, Your Majesty."

-

There had been more talking, and a tealblood handing Karkat some sort of communication device, and the Condesce and the Orphaner quietly conferring, and then a pair of guards escorting him and Sollux outside the throne room.

Then it hit him in the face.

He was out, alive, with Sollux.

_Sollux._

Holy shit. 

Only the faint glimmer of Prospit and Derse was visible in the sky. By some fucked-up telekinetic warping of reality, the Condesce had attempted to implement Alternia and Derse into something barely coherent. Alternia still remained free --  or at least half of it, courtesy of the Signless's rebellion. The other half was the Empress's domain. Derse had fallen, the streets supposedly bathed in carapician and trollian blood, and Prospit was just ever within tantalizing sight.

The Empress's power was spreading. So long, she had kept to her corner of the world, occasionally reaching out to subjugate other planets -- but the effects of the rebellion were fading. 

They wallowed down the castle steps. The shoreline beat hard and strong, all angry waves and hissing foam, salt stinging into the air. Even the sea smelled wrong. Everything the Condesce touched, it curdled like a festering wound. Karkat still capped his thoughts about his friend. Kanaya had provided him a fuzzy direction of where to head, but these guards could not be part of it.

When they were a safe distance from the castle, the woods beginning to thicken, Karkat turned to the guards with mild reluctance.

"Are you escorting us all the way there?"

"Yes. Her Majesty's orders."

"There's no way I can persuade you to leave."

Their hands subtly slipped to their weapons. "She prefers to have full intel -- "

_Sorry,_ Karkat thought, and he leapt at the first one. He sunk the sickles into the guard's uniform, digging the tips until they breached the suit and into the flesh below. A splash of pale green blood splattered across the grass.

Where was the second guard --

Oh.

The second one was on the ground, gasping, teal blood smeared across her face. She was bleeding from the head. The burnt smell of electricity raced through the air, the smell of skin and hair searing, sizzling, and Karkat saw red and blue sparks flicker across Sollux's horns.

Sollux's mouth tightened, ever so slightly, and the guard screamed again.  _He's trying to crush the troll's head._ Something crunched softly, but the guard continued to hold onto life, clawing at the ground.

Karkat sunk a sickle between her eyes and the sounds ceased.

He slowly turned to the other troll.

They were alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emotional juicy stuff upcoming. Sorry if the ending was a little abrupt.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty much a shitpost synopsis about stuff i had halfheartedly thought for this story
> 
> if you want to be mildly, briefly entertained, do read the first few chapters. otherwise, whups
> 
> please do not read this if you're #triggered by an author slopping shit over (pronoun)'s work, who am i kidding please join int his feisty party

 

**PLEASE DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET KIND-OF SPOILERED**

~~okay, so pretty much sollux and karkat fled the palace, right? dave goes to pick them up, which fosters some touchy-feely shit between him and Karkat (karkat is the actual village bike of Homestuck wtf)~~

~~they go to the dersite base, and~~

~~uh~~

~~huh, it's been several months since i thought what to puton this. damn~~

~~anyways, there was going to be a lot of political intrigue in the dersite base -- backstabbing, machivillaenn methods, betrayal, romance <3 -- but it's all later set out so there's a nice stewing rebllinon against condy herself. ideally, i could write that in one chapter, but then ther woudln't be a slooooow burn.~~

~~also, everyone kinda has their sburb/sgrub powers but obvs not the full-universe extent~~

~~also, jake dies so no hope bombass powers~~

~~and karkat and sollux get pretty non-platonic, but not concupiscent eitehr cause sollux has literally been through troll hell~~

~~so later these two like try to kill dualscar while everyone else faces against drones, and it's going to be a fucking awesome battle right in the friggin palace room, then the empress herself shimmies in and dirk, roxy, dave, rose all jump her in revenege of what she did to their ancestors~~

~~needless to say, good guys win.~~

~~but~~

~~casualties, man~~

~~so people get killed. thats where, if i actually wrote up the damn thing, i would be like "wow, random selector, choose some shit for me to off like hangman day"~~

~~so it hink dirk, roxy, jade, nepeta, equius, gamzee, vriska, jade, all get popped like balloons, and feferi becomes new empress because she's awesome.~~

~~also, karkat gets like pretty heavily injured and shit but sollux and dave are both like "no, dude you gotta live" and karkat's like "okay" and stands up all heroically~~

~~so dave's pov for the epilogue and he's with john, event hough that relationship is ???huh and he goes to like a cemetery to mourn the people i just listed, and he also sees eridan and aradia's graves and he sees karkat and sollux standing in front of dis grave. both are like really happy and healthy as if they haven't been subjected under public education and dave's like~~

~~"sup"~~

~~they're lik~~

~~"nice to see u again"~~

~~cus surprise, they're actually alternate timeline selves from a timeline where sollux wasn't conscripted and he and kk were going really steady. they return to their own timeline. their real alpha selves are~~

~~wait it for~~

~~dead~~

~~cause karkat had a big fucking injury and the power of hope does not stitch up wounds.~~

~~sollux dies because of a combo of grief and psionic shit that messed up his nerves.~~

~~dave literally stands at the cemetery and i write an long, internal monlogloeu regarding his stance on life within both worlds~~

~~then i post whatever the hell i just wrote up there, holy fuck.~~

~~the end.~~

~~i do pinkky promise that when i actually had it laid out it was better? dubiously? not-at-all? -_-~~

 


End file.
